Shallow first-half recession seen for U.S. economy

A recession looms for the U.S. economy in the first half of 2008 due to faltering consumer spending and nonresidential construction, which have so far helped offset the housing slump, a report released on Wednesday said.

"Some of the fundamentals that helped prop up the economy in 2007 are beginning to look shaky," said the forecast report from Chapman University's A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research in Orange, California.

The Anderson Center anticipates real gross domestic product will shrink by 1.0 percent in the first quarter and by 1.9 percent in the second quarter, said Esmael Adibi, the center's director.
The U.S. economy will recover in the second half, but its growth will be slow and full-year growth will only be 0.9 percent, said Adibi, adding that nonresidential construction will no longer offset the home-building downturn.

Total private construction spending will shrink next year by $125 billion, compared with an expected $91 billion drop this year, Adibi told Reuters in a telephone interview.

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